1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to holders and more specifically relates to a holder for planar or sheet material wherein the holder includes a planar holding portion for holding planar material and an integral attachment mechanism of the planar holder portion to a wire or rod, which rod may have a variable dimension.
2. Background Art
The inventive holder is particularly applicable to sign holders or display devices that are useful in retail environments in which price sheets and the like are to be prominently displayed to prospective purchasers. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention has broader applications, and may be utilizable in other applications in which it is convenient to hang items from a variable dimensioned mounting using a cinch, ring or contoured tab.
Conventional practice for retail establishments is to indicate the price of merchandise held on shelves with price tags attached to the shelf holding the items to be sold. Some examples of such price holders, other than price tags on the items themselves, are clips, slots, or rigid holders that retain the price tag or other identifying information attached to the shelf on which the items to be sold are displayed. In some instances, the rigid holder may be in the form of a planar member that has cantilevered top and bottom edges forming grooves into which price tags, for example, small rectangular sheets of paper or cardboard are inserted. Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,340,856 to Kalouris describes such a holder. Kalouris is an example of an adjustable tag holder that accommodates different diameter wires or other mounting means. The teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 7,340,856 are incorporated herein, where common elements are described, as if fully set forth.
Price tags mounted on a display shelf are usually positioned in a plane parallel to the shelf front edge or in a plane perpendicular to the front edge to call attention to the prospective purchaser the price or other identifying indicia of the merchandise goods, usually disposed directly behind the price tag holder. Price tags need to be mounted securely to prevent accidental dislodgment by passersby or to prevent deliberate tampering by persons bent on mischief. Besides the above mentioned Kalouris patent, known price tag holders utilize mechanical locking means, for example, a pin and slot arrangement, to prevent the removal of the price tag except by manually disengaging the locking means. Some such clips are made from several parts to facilitate the removal of temporary price sheets that are inserted therein until they are changed. However, multiple part arrangements of this type add to the manufacturing and utilization costs, as they require additional assembly and other steps to produce than does an integral or single piece device.
Conventional one piece price tag holders, for example, tags that are attachable around a wire mesh front wire in a wire mesh shelf have a specified diameter wire or metal rod to which they are attachable. The diameter of the rods making up the wire mesh shelves on occasion has a wire of a different, often larger size. In that event, a different size of attachment is necessary to securely hold the price tag holder on the wire mesh front wire or rod so as to inhibit lateral displacement along the rod or wire. To change over to different shelving systems may require obtaining a complete new set of price tag holders. Moreover, if two or several different types of shelving are utilized in a specified retail establishment, then as many types of price tag holders are necessary to use on the different wire mesh holders, thereby needlessly complicating the inventory of the retail establishment, adding to the carrying costs and taking up space that would otherwise be used for storage of retail merchandise.
The attachment mechanisms provided for attaching the price tag holders to a shelf are generally sturdy ones to avoid tampering or other accidental dislodgement, and usually include retaining members that are difficult to unlatch, and some even require special tools to unhook or otherwise unfasten the price tag holder from the mounting disposed on the shelf. For example, aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 7,340,856 includes a hard plastic base that has a slot for insertion of a tab end that securely retains the tab end in the slot until a strong positive force is brought to the tab end to remove the tab end from the slot.
The desire that the retention mechanism be sturdy and hard to unfasten accidentally, while also inhibiting sideways displacement along the wire or rod on which it is mounted has tended toward a trend of more robust retention mechanisms, which contributes significantly to the cost of the tag holders. An inexpensive to produce and inexpensive to use, that is, reusable, means of retaining a price tag holder on the mounting means of a shelf is needed which also provides the capability of reutilizing a price tag holder by virtue of the easy disengagement of the holding or retention mechanism and reattachment at a different desired location.